"I invite you all to celebrate my 77th," Chavez said. "I had said I'd leave in 2021. Well, I'm not going away in 2021 or anything. Maybe in 2031."

Sure, Chavez is a scumbag, but at least he's honest. The day before, Chavez said in a telephone interview that after chemo treatment he expects to resemble Yul Brynner — which we don't really see, but whatever — and wondered if Venezuela should give a loan to a "broke" Obama and "the gringos." And such is the life of a gimmicky strongman.